Former NAACP President Ben Jealous endorses Bernie Sanders

Ben Jealous, former head of the NAACP, officially endorsed Bernie Sanders on Friday, drawing parallels between the ideals of the Vermont senator and those of Martin Luther King Jr.

“I recall the words of the late great Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who said a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus,” Jealous said in a press call organized by the Sanders’ campaign. “And that brings me to why I'm here today. Bernie Sanders has been a principled, courageous, insistent fighter against the evils that Dr. King referred to as the giant triplets of racism, militarism and greed.”

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Jealous said Sanders meets King’s definition of a great leader and cited that as the reason he has the best chance to beat the Republican nominee in a general election. “Bernie Sanders is running a positive, principled, people-powered campaign and steadily molded consensus across our nation at such a high level that the polls now say he's hands down the candidate for beating any of the potential Republican nominees at the polls next fall,” he said.

Jealous, now a partner at the venture capital firm Kapor Capital and a senior fellow at the left-leaning Center for American Progress, hailed Sanders as a lifelong champion for equality and the candidate with the best plan to end mass incarceration and improve community policing.

“Throughout his life, he has been a fearless, tireless and trustworthy champion for the right of all our nation's children to have full and unfettered access to the American dream,” he said.

“In short, Bernie Sanders has the courage to confront the institutionalized racism and bias that stains our nation,” he concluded. “Bernie Sanders leads with a sort of freedom-minded conviction that strikes fear in the military-industrial complex, the prison-industrial complex and the worst of Wall Street, and most importantly Bernie Sanders is the type of leader we can trust to fight for the future of all our nation's children as if they were his very own. It is for all these reasons that I am proud to endorse Bernie Sanders for president of these United States.”

Jealous’ endorsement represents Sanders' first by a major African-American leader and a potential rebuttal to the argument that he lacks appeal among black voters.

Polls have regularly shown Clinton trouncing Sanders among African-Americans, by 60 points or more, and she leads him by nearly 30 percentage points in South Carolina, a state where black voters make up the majority of the Democratic electorate.

Sanders on Friday thanked Jealous for his support before praising his “dynamic” leadership. “I think it is widely known that Mr. Jealous is one of the dynamic leaders of the civil rights movement in this country today,” he added. “He did a fantastic job in revitalizing the NAACP, making it the very dynamic organization that it is today.”

Jealous has been critical of President Barack Obama's stewardship of the economy, telling then-host David Gregory on "Meet the Press" on Jan. 26, 2013: "Right now, when you look at joblessness in this country you know, the country is pretty much back to where it was when this president started. White people are doing a bit better. Black folks are doing a full point worse."

News of Jealous' potential endorsement was first reported by CNN on Thursday.